Dr Caroline J Oates

BA, MSc, PhD

Management School

Reader in Marketing

White Rose DTP SMP Pathway Director

A head and shoulders photograph of Caroline Oates stood on the mezzanine in the Management School.
Profile picture of A head and shoulders photograph of Caroline Oates stood on the mezzanine in the Management School.
c.j.oates@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 4448

Full contact details

Dr Caroline J Oates
Management School
Room D027
Sheffield University Management School
Conduit Road
Sheffield
S10 1FL
Profile

I gained a BA in Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Sheffield in 1993, an MSc in Marketing from Sheffield Hallam University in 2001 and a PhD from the University of Sheffield in 1997.

I now lecture in marketing at the University of Sheffield Management School. My main research efforts are focused on environmental marketing and marketing to children.

Research interests

I collaborate with colleagues at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen and the University of Leeds on an ESRC-funded project to investigate the decision making processes consumers engage in when consuming sustainable technologies.

I also work with colleagues in the Dept of Psychology at the University of Sheffield on marketing to children.

I have links with Fordham University, New York, where I collaborate with Professor Fran Blumberg on media consumption and young consumers.

My main collaboration is with Seonaidh McDonald at Robert Gordon University, with whom I research sustainable consumption.

I founded the Sustainability SIG for the Academy of Marketing network and continue to work closely with the new Directors, Dr Claudia Henninger (Manchester) and Dr Pallavi Singh (Sheffield Hallam).
Publications

Books

  • Oates CJ & Alevizou PJ (2017) Conducting Focus Groups for Business and Management Students. London: SAGE Publications. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Gunter B, Oates C & Blades M (2005) Advertising to children on TV. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. RIS download Bibtex download

Edited books

Journal articles

Chapters

  • Oates C (2020) Sustainability marketing: products, fair trade and greenwashing In Eagle L, Dahl S, De Pelsmacker P & Taylor C (Ed.), The SAGE Handbook of Marketing Ethics (pp. 226-237). London: Sage Publications Limited. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Henninger CE & Oates CJ (2017) The role of social media in communicating CSR within fashion micro-organizations, Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility in the Digital Era (pp. 232-244). Routledge RIS download Bibtex download
  • McDonald S, Oates CJ & Alevizou PJ (2016) No Through Road: A Critical Examination of Researcher Assumptions and Approaches to Researching Sustainability In Malhotra NK (Ed.), Marketing in and for a Sustainable Society (pp. 139-168). Emerald View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Henninger CE, Alevizou PJ, Oates CJ & Cheng R (2016) Communicating Sustainability: The Case of Slow-Fashion Micro-organizations, Sustainable Consumption (pp. 83-99). Springer International Publishing RIS download Bibtex download
  • Henninger CE, Oates CJ, Alevizou PJ & Cheng R (2015) Sustainable Supply Chain Management in the Slow-Fashion Industry In Choi TM & Chen TC (Ed.), Sustainable Fashion Supply Chain Management From Sourcing to Retailing (pp. 129-154). Springer RIS download Bibtex download
  • Blades M, Gunter B, Oates C & Blumberg F (2014) Introduction to advertising to children, Advertising to Children New Directions, New Media (pp. 1-16). Palgrave Macmillan RIS download Bibtex download
  • Li S, Pickering M, Ali M, Blades M & Oates C (2014) Young Children’s Ability to Identify Advertisements on Television, Web Pages and Search Engine Web Pages, Advertising to Children (pp. 199-217). Palgrave Macmillan UK RIS download Bibtex download
  • Oates C, Newman N & Tziortzi A (2014) Parents’ Beliefs About, and Attitudes Towards, Marketing to Children, Advertising to Children (pp. 115-136). Palgrave Macmillan UK RIS download Bibtex download
  • Oates C, Blumberg F, Gunter B & Blades M (2014) Conclusions, Advertising to Children (pp. 239-243). Palgrave Macmillan UK RIS download Bibtex download
  • Gunter B, Oates C, Blumberg F & Blades M (2014) Advertising to Children New Directions, New Media Introduction, ADVERTISING TO CHILDREN: NEW DIRECTIONS, NEW MEDIA (pp. 1-16). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Oates C, Blumberg F, Gunter B & Blades M (2014) Advertising to Children New Directions, New Media Conclusions, ADVERTISING TO CHILDREN: NEW DIRECTIONS, NEW MEDIA (pp. 239-243). RIS download Bibtex download
  • McDonald S, Oates CJ, Alevizou P, Young CW & Hwang K (2013) Individual strategies for sustainable consumption. In McEachern M (Ed.), Contemporary Issues in Green and Ethical Marketing (pp. 250-272). Abingdon: Routledge. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Verhellen Y, Oates CJ, De Pelsmacker P & Dens N (2013) Children’s responses to traditional versus hybrid advertising: the moderating role of persuasion knowledge In Rosengren S, Dahlen M & Okazaki S (Ed.), Advances in Advertising Research: The Changing Roles of Advertising. Volume IV (pp. 379-390). EAA Springer RIS download Bibtex download
  • Oates CJ, McDonald S & Young CW (2008) Choosing to be sustainable In Reddy S (Ed.), Green Consumerism - Approaches And Country Experiences Hyderabad: Icfai University Press. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Oates CJ & Blades M (2007) Advertising to children in China In Blumberg FC (Ed.), When East Meets West: Media research and practice in US and China (pp. 100-116). Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Press. RIS download Bibtex download
  • McDonald S, Oates CJ & Alevizou P (2006) Decoding Governance: A study of purchase processes for sustainable technologies In Murphy J (Ed.), Governing Technology for Sustainability (pp. 25-40). London: Earthscan. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Oates CJ (2000) The use of focus groups in social science research In Burton D (Ed.), Research Training for Social Scientists: A handbook for postgraduate researchers (pp. 186-195). London: Sage. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Blumberg FC, Montgomery A, Graver CA, Oates C & Blades M () Gaming (pp. 1-8). Wiley RIS download Bibtex download
  • Blades M, Oates C, Blumberg FC & Sinclair M () Media Marketing to Children (pp. 1-11). Wiley RIS download Bibtex download
  • Li S, Pickering M, Ali M, Blades M & Oates C () Young Children’s Ability to Identify Advertisements on Television, Web Pages and Search Engine Web Pages, Advertising to Children Palgrave Macmillan RIS download Bibtex download
  • Oates C, Newman N & Tziortzi A () Parents’ Beliefs About, and Attitudes Towards, Marketing to Children, Advertising to Children Palgrave Macmillan RIS download Bibtex download

Conference proceedings papers

  • Fu Y, Blades M & Oates C (2019) Chinese children’s beliefs of information on homework, news and social media related websites/apps. http://dpi-proceedings.com/index.php/dtssehs/issue/view/352/showToc RIS download Bibtex download
  • Circus V, Oates CJ, Blades M & Alevizou P (2018) From school to the family home: exploring reverse eco-socialisation from an environmental education programme. 25th IAPS Conference Proceedings, 9 July 2018 - 13 July 2018. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Henninger C, Oates CJ & McDonald S (2018) What does it mean to be a sustainable business?. Marketing the Brave, 2 July 2018 - 5 July 2018. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Oates CJ & McDonald S (2018) Mapping sustainability: How individuals approach greening. Marketing the Brave. Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Conference, 2 July 2018 - 5 July 2018. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Alevizou P, Oates CJ, McDonald S & Henninger C (2018) Signalling sustainability: Approaches to on-pack advertising and consumer responses.. American Academy of Advertising Annual Conference, 22 March 2018 - 25 March 2018. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Singh P, Oates CJ, Sahadev S & Alevizou P (2016) Understanding environmental socialisation of adolescents in India. 7th Child and Teen Consumption Conference, 27 April 2016 - 29 April 2016. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Oates CJ, McDonald S & Padmore J (2015) Household behaviour and sustainability: from inactive to involved, and what lies in-between. Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Conference RIS download Bibtex download
  • Oates CJ, Li S & Blades M (2014) Becoming knowledgeable consumers: the ability of young children to recognise when they are being targeted by marketers. Proceedings of the 6th International Child and Teen Consumption conference RIS download Bibtex download
  • Oates CJ (2009) Food content in children's UK television programmes. Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing conference RIS download Bibtex download
  • Oates CJ & Tuck N (2009) Identifying the frequency and nature of food content in UK children's television. Proceedings of the 14th International Corporate and Marketing Communications conference RIS download Bibtex download
  • Oates CJ & McDonald S (2003) Sustainability: consumer perceptions and marketing strategies. Proceedings of the 32nd EMAC conference RIS download Bibtex download
  • Oates CJ, Blades M & Ross J (2003) Children's awareness and understanding of print and ambient advertising. Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Corporate and Marketing Communications RIS download Bibtex download
  • Oates CJ, Blades M, Gunter B & Ross J (2002) Children's understanding of television advertising: a qualitative approach. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Corporate and Marketing Communications RIS download Bibtex download
  • Oates CJ, Blades M & Gunter B (2001) Children and televison advertising: when do they understand persuasive intent?. Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing conference RIS download Bibtex download
  • Alevizou PJA, Oates CJ, McDonald S & Henninger CE () But who is looking? Decoding on-pack sustainability claims in Greece, UK, France and Sweden. Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing 50th Annual Conference RIS download Bibtex download
  • Oates CJ & Henninger CE () The sensory retail experience -a customer focused approach to practitioner oriented goals. Sensory Branding, 26 April 2017 - 27 April 2017. RIS download Bibtex download
Research group

Behavioural Research for Inclusivity, Sustainability and Technological Transformation (BRISTT)

Grants

Title: How do consumers begin to be green?

  • Awarding body: Marketing Trust
  • Date: 2016-2018
  • People involved: Seonaidh McDonald (Co-I)
  • Amount: £9,600

Title: Reduce, reuse recycle: tackling the waste hierarchy through young children’s television.

  • Awarding body: Nuffield Foundation
  • Date: 2010-2011
  • People involved: Seonaidh McDonald, RGU (P.I.) & Mark Blades, Psychology Dept.
  • Amount: £7400

Title: Identifying & analysing the frequency & nature of food content in UK children’s television programmes.

  • Awarding body: Academy of Marketing
  • Date: 2008-2009
  • Amount: £2,500

Title: Decision making for sustainable technologies.

  • Awarding body: ESRC Sustainable Technologies Programme
  • Date: 2003-2005
  • People involved: Will Young (P.I.) School of the Environment, University of Leeds & Seonaidh McDonald, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen.
  • Amount: £91,000
Teaching activities

I teach a module on the MSc in Marketing Management Practice called Marketing Communications.

This involves looking at the different channels used by organizations to communicate their brand and how these channels are integrated, planned and evaluated.

I use academic journal articles and case studies, together with guest speakers, to explore this topic. Students taking this module contribute to discussions centred on real life examples and knowledge is tested at the end of the semester with an examination and coursework.

Parts of the module closely reflect my research interests – I introduce ethics by relating lectures to my research on marketing to children and sustainable marketing.

PhD supervision

I currently supervise seven PhD students in the areas of sustainability marketing and marketing to children, and am not currently accepting new PhD students.